Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.
Newsletter - April 12, 2022
I had mixed feedback about the frequency of newsletters. In the end, "do what works for you" won out. I'll probably slip into a mix of weekly and every-other-week. Because weeks like the last one... well, some weeks are too hard. But, generally, I like the weekly cadence. It helps me focus (as you'll see from all that I didn't accomplish last week. ππ€£)
My oldest girl had a track meet on Saturday while my middle girl had an out-of-town dance competition, so my wife and I had to divide and conquer, and the youngest managed an all-day playdate with a friend. Everyone did great. I'm shocked that the basketball league is going to have a tournament over Easter weekend--we're going to leave my oldest behind while we travel to see relatives. I can't wrap my head around the idea of that scheduling. I mean, I get that not everyone holds the holiday as sacred, but the schools let the kids out--it's dichotic. "Go spend time with your family! Or basketball..."
I'll share a first pass of the artwork for the cover of Book 4. Really first pass though--the artist is still iterating on feedback, and I haven't put more than a few minutes into cleaning up the title placement and such. The ground is supposed to be a sea of Infected. The stairs aren't right. The tower isn't right. I want to make the notes swirling into a galaxy/black-hole kind of thing. I know, you don't know the story yet, so hard to comment, but I'm open to feedback.
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I ordered copies of my books from Amazon and B&N with the new covers, which do appear to be more forgiving for print errors, though I still see them. It bugs me when the printing isn't straight along the edge. Anyway, I ordered them so that I could pick from which I should place the larger order for copies to sell at a farmer's market. I'm still gearing up for that, but my wife pointed out that I don't have any free weekends to participate. :(
Still, I'm trying to create a banner for the front of a table. How is this? Yeah, yeah, Book 4's cover isn't done... so that seems a little weird. But the cover will get a lot more solid in a couple of weeks.
After listening to a podcast from Sasha Black's "The Rebel Author Podcast", called "How to Write Killer Book Descriptions with Brian Meeks," I tweaked my Amazon blurb based on what I learned, and guess what? I killed all sales of my books. I've literally had zero sales since I updated the blurb. So odd to me, because it all made sense, and I think I implemented it correctly. I've had "dead patches" before, so I'm letting it ride a little longer. Still, discouraging.
Soooooo discouraging. On the bright side, I've created a highly successful tax write-off! And I enjoy it. Let's not forget that. And I do get occasional fireworks of positive feedback. Anywho, have a great week!
o To-Do list for writing last week:
Email updates- Gather pieces to work a farmer's market - didn't get it done. Worked on a banner, and that was it.
- insert QR code in bookmark - didn't do it.
o To-Do list for writing this week:
- Email updates
- Gather pieces to work a farmer's market - didn't get it done. Worked on a banner, and that was it.
- insert QR code in bookmark - didn't do it.
Previous Newsletters
- βNewsletter - April 5, 2022β
- βAlmost done Marching - 3/30/2022
- βSpring Break - 3/22/2022
- β#weekendgetaway - 3/15/2022
- βMarch Merch... - 3/8/2022
- βMarch on! (yeah, that's terrible) - 3/1/2022
- βLate-Feb Slog - 2/23/2022
- βNo rest for the weary - 2/16/2022
- βBook 4 of The Guardian League, The Song Unsung - 2/9/2022
- βHappy Birthday to my Wife - 2/1/2022
- βFinding Books "Connected" to mine - 1/25/2022
- βHunting for Silver Linings - 1/18/2022
- βStarting off the New Year with a Bang - 1/11/2022
- ββHappy Neo Year - 1/4/2022
- βTreasure - 12/28/2021
- βHappy Holidays - 12/21/2021
- βA week of promotions - 12/14/2021
- βElf on the Shelf and the Bless-Yous of Winter - 12/05/2021
- βThanks have been given - 11/30/2021
- βReviews, but not bookish reviews... - 11/23/2021
- βLights, digital recording device, actionβ¦ - 11/16/2021
- βAnnnnd... cue Christmas! - 11/09/2021
- βBook 3 Hype-Up Coming Soon - 11/02/2021
- βLosing Faith, a Calyx Twins Story - 10/26/2021 π Losing Faith, a Calyx Twins Story.pdfβ
- βNew pics for Book 1 - 10/19/2021
- βHappy Birthday, Middle Egg - 10/12/2021
- βAge Before Duty -10/05/2021 πβ Age-Before-Duty.pdfβ
- βGrundle's Hope - 9/28/2021 π Grundle's-Hope.pdfβ
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Steven J Morris
Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.
A week-and-a-half after retirement, my buddy sent a pic from the gym room at work, asking where I was. My first thought was, "Why are they in the office on a Saturday?" It was Thursday. That shows where my head is. π I haven't hit a home run in my job search, nor has anything knocked my socks off. I had an opportunity that appealed to me more than others, working at a startup called Tenstorrent. Though I didn't get the job, I realized through the process that I really like the idea of a...
Blurb input?
I would like to lock down my blurb so that I can send it to the cover editor. I took input from April, then made more edits. Iβm open to suggestions. Also pretty happy with it. The Mother of Trees withers while the trolls prepare to conquer a crumbling world. The elvesβ only hope rests on a desperate plan forged by a fanatical Warder with questionable motives. Elliah, a magicless elf cursed by prophecy, holds the key to either salvation or destruction. Forced into an uneasy alliance with the...
I've got the email sequence and epub ready for ARC readers. Sign up here for your FREE ARC epub of Book 2 of Thaumatropic Roots, Bones of Cenaedth. (It puts you on the same email list you're already on... it just tags you as an ARC reader and sends you the emails specific to the release.) All books by Steven J. Morris May you get lost this week in another world. Follow me on Goodreads. Subscribe